Loyal NJ Republican Flips

Mike Ferguson, a conservative Republican who was re-elected to his suburban New Jersey seat by less than two percent of the vote last year, just announced that he would vote against the resolution condemning the escalation of the war.

The youthful and ambitious pol, who engaged in some rather embarrassing district-shopping before winning his 7th District seat in 2000, nearly saw his political career collapse last November, when Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Stender mounted a strong challenge by criticizing Ferguson’s loyalty to the House GOP leadership.

She is considering challenging him again next year — and his vote against this resolution now figures to feature prominently in that campaign.